My Thoughts On Life

I would like to share with you five ways to help make a positive difference; be it to help the environment, humanity, or animals. It is amazing how easy it is to make a difference through small actions. I hope that you find these helpful, and I will post more in the coming weeks. Also, if you have any ideas on ways to help, please feel free to share them here.

1. Use Reusable Grocery Bags

Bringing your own grocery bags into the store with you is easy to do, and reduces the amount of waste we put into our landfills.

The idea of bringing your own grocery bags with you into the store has become a very popular trend in the past year. Not surprisingly stores such as Whole Foods and Co-Op stores encourage this. But, now even large chains such as Safeway and Target are supporting this, and sometimes giving you back 5¢ for each bag you bring with you.

Refer to my post Please Dispose Of When Done for more information.

2. Use Paper Bags Instead of Plastic

So, let’s say you forget your reusable grocery bags; I admit this happens to me often. You brought them with you last time you went shopping, but forgot to put them back in the car after you brought the groceries home that night. What do you do? Choose paper bags over plastic when you get to the check stand.

Plastic bags, although recyclable, often do not make it to a landfill or a recycling facility. Instead they end up in our water ways, clogging drains, and choking animals. On the other hand, paper bags are biodegradable, and often made of post consumer content.

Refer to SF Gate post Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean for more information.

3. Use Natural, Plant Based, Biodegradable Cleaning Products

I started using Clorox Green Works dish soap recently, and am very happy with the switch. Switching to plant based cleaners reduces the amount of petroleum based products you consume regularly, thus reducing our dependency on petroleum and fossil fuels.

Refer to Clorox Green Works site for more information.

4. Use A Reusable Coffee Mug

Whether you’re at work or going to your local coffee shop, bring a reusable coffee mug with you. You will be reducing the amount of waste we put into our landfills.

If you are a coffee addict like me that drinks coffee several times per day, you will be saving thousands of cups, lids, and sleeves from ever going into the trash.

5. Use Both Sides of The Printer Paper

Make sure to print on both sides of the paper whether you’re at work or at home.

Make sure your employer has duplex devices installed in the office printers; that is the part of a laser printer that flips the paper over allowing the printer to print on both sides. This will save them money on buying paper, and will save on paper waste.

Make sure you find out how to print on both sides of the paper with your home printer. Even though you will not have a duplex device in your printer, every printer I have ever used has an option to print on both sides. When you select this option, the printer will print on one side, and then prompt you to flip the paper over so it can print on the other side.

Just think about how much paper you will save. You will be using half of what you would use without it.

Also, try printing multiple pages per side of the paper, you will save even more paper.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 2:58 am and is filed under awareness, environment, humanity, thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.